


Cleanup Hitter

by booksandcleverness



Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Baseball, Catcher!Derek, Catcher!Stiles, Derek is sad, F/F, F/M, High School, Highschool AU, Jacksons the worst, Kate Argent sucks, Laura and Stiles are friends, M/M, Softball, baseball!derek, baseball!sterek, baseball!stiles, but don't forget she SUCKS, but she's interesting to write, derek trains stiles, slight PTSD, stiles can never tell if he's actually joking, stiles is a year or two younger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 18:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11237181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksandcleverness/pseuds/booksandcleverness
Summary: Derek stopped playing baseball after the fire. His replacement on the team asked him for some training tips. Said replacement is not taking no for an answer.Cleanup Hitter (n.) the fourth hitter in the lineup. They are the ones with the most power in the team and their most important job is to bring runs in.





	1. Bunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy thanks for reading!! keep in mind my English won't be perfect and I'm sorry for that! if there's anything super noticeably wrong let me know!
> 
> also, a change i've made to the timeline:
> 
> Hale Fire took place towards the end of Derek's sophomore year.

Derek and Laura Hale walked into school for the first time in two weeks. The halls were noticeably quieter when they passed through them, lockers remaining open, conversations halted. Students tucked their elbows into themselves to avoid any possible brushing of bodies, like the trauma was contagious. Rumours had always traveled fast at Beacon Hills; the more awful the topic, the quicker they were spread. In a matter of hours, the entire school seemed to know more about what had happened than Derek even did. He hardly remembered it at this point. It had been just two weeks and the memory of it seemed far away in his mind. 

Even Jackson Whittemore quieted down once he noticed the gait of the broken siblings. Derek and Jackson always had a friendship when they were on the field - it started with them hating each other when they started Little League, either one jealous of the other. Then, they practically grew up on the field together, constantly put on the same rec teams and eventually they formed a friendship out of mutual respect, though they still made fun of each other more than anything. But Derek had already informed Finstock that he would no longer be playing on the team. Jackson turned his head to avoid eye contact; Derek was confident there was no saving that friendship. 

Derek was only 15 and he understood that his life would never be the same.

By the time summer had come to an end, Derek had come to accept that the life he lived prior to the Fire would only live through vague memories and old Instagram pictures he hadn't gotten around to deleting. (Cora had explained to him that just because he deleted the app, it didn't mean his account was gone. He never listened.)

The Hale siblings had been living in an apartment just outside town for the summer, and Derek had pretended to not notice Laura avoiding the mail from the government about their house and what she wanted to do with it. Derek was weird that way - if he saw someone was avoiding something, he made an effort to avoid it even more. Eventually, the letters piled up, and Cora sat Laura down and made her consider the possibility of them going back to the house, and to Beacon Hills at all for the school year. Laura, at first, remained broody about the prospect, but when Cora pointed out that she and Derek needed to at least get through high school, as Laura had just graduated, the alpha suddenly became determined to make a better life for her betas. It was with a frightening determination that Laura's attitude shifted. She was very suddenly taking on the role of Alpha, something that Derek hadn't expected her to ever accept. Besides her barking comments to leave her alone, she hadn't used any of her abilities since she had inherited the stance of Alpha. But then, she began initiating pack meetings (essentially, at dinner she would make them sit there and they would draw up plans for the house), she began calling them her 'pups' or sometimes her 'Betas' and Cora was absolutely glowing at the familiarity of the words. Derek found solace in it too, like maybe they'd become a pack again. 

“Smile, don't forget. Look friendly! Derek, control your eyebrows, they're threatening.” Laura reminded her younger siblings as she walked down the steps of their home, unnecessarily walking them to Derek’s car, “Make friends! Cora, don't skip the softball tryouts, and I'll know if you do, so don't try any shit." The mix of affection and demand in her tone made Derek laugh. 

“Will you calm down? Are we gonna do this everyday? I'll stop listening. I already did.” He told her, climbing into the Cruiser, his tone implying that any answer other than ‘no, of course not’ would be met with an eye roll.

“I just want to make sure my Betas are getting the full high school experience!” Laura exclaimed, spreading her palms like it was the least she could do. Derek could feel how genuine she was; she'd only blame herself if Derek and Cora had less than perfect school years. She was wholeheartedly trying her best to fill in for their parents; tucked into her pocket was a dish rag she’d been waving around all morning as she cleaned. She was becoming more like their mother everyday, cleaning when she was anxious. Her hair was in a messy knot at the top of her head, frizzy around her forehead. “Just be safe, okay?” She asked, in a quieter tone, the playfulness gone, her eyes burning a gentle shade of red for just a moment.

As always, Derek and Cora tore their eyes away from the red. “We promise,” Derek told her, his sarcasm stunted as he was pulled into memories of his mother with those red eyes, feeling warm for just a moment before he was dosed with the last memory he had of her, when fire was blazing all around the home and he heard his mother begging, pleading with Laura to kill him before they could-

“We’re gonna be late,” Cora snapped, effectively and none too gently dragging Derek from his memory. He wasn't sure if she did it on purpose (he could never tell with Cora), but he was grateful even if he didn't show it. He had been gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white, and Laura had been just about to reach in through the open window to touch him.

“I’m fine,” Derek said before Laura could offer to let him stay home again. “You just focus on the construction, it's still pretty shitty.” He told her, forcing a smile on his face as he teased. He motioned towards the half reconstructed Hale House that Laura had been tirelessly working on. She insisted she could do it on her own; Derek had no doubt in her. 

Both of his sisters noticed his thinly-veiled sadness, and he rolled his eyes as he started to pull out of their yard. “We’ll be home around 6!” He reminded her, offering a small wave to his older sister, hoping it would calm her enough that he wouldn’t get six hundred texts from her today. He knew he still would. Just as he knew he'd appreciate every single one of them. 

“Derek, I get it,” Cora growled as she glared at her big brother as he latched onto her elbow. They were standing outside the girls’ locker room, warranting stares from underclassmen. The tension the Hales were able to create could’ve been cut with a knife - that's what they were soon known for. Making almost everyone around them uncomfortable without even having to speak to them.

“Just don't mess up, Cora,” Derek repeated, staring into her eyes and wordlessly begging for her to understand the importance. “7 minute mile, no less. Don't react too fast. Watch how the other girls do drills before you-”

“I. Get. It.” Cora hissed, tearing her arm from her brother's grasp. Her eyes blazed a dark yellow briefly, before she took a deep breath to settle herself. Derek crossed his arms, raised his eyebrows at his younger sister, almost smug as she proved him right. “That's exactly what can't happen, idiot.”

Cora made a frustrated noise and pushed the door to the locker room open, evidently done with Derek’s instruction. He wasn't sure when she’d gotten so angry all the time, but he couldn't blame her; they were the same. 

Derek turned around, intent on heading back to the lot to wait for Cora, but instead he stumbled over two sophomores he hadn't seen. Stumbled might be the wrong word to use - Derek was fine, but the two sophomores went down hard. A young girl with big, curly blonde hair, and a skinny, tall kid with a buzz cut.


	2. Contact Hitter

“I'm sorry,” Derek said mechanically, already balanced and reaching a hand down to help the struggling girl up. The girl was extremely light, and Derek pulled her onto her feet swiftly. She gasped involuntarily, a shaky sound. The sophomore boy was leaning up on his elbows, staring at Derek incredulously with big brown eyes. 

“A: way to help me up, I'm way more helpless than she is. B: your chest feels like an entire brick wall, have you been in the gym since you were born?” 

Derek decided that he was glad he helped the girl up and not the boy. He pointedly ignored the guy and looked to the shaken-looking girl, adjusting her glasses gently so they were no longer crooked. "Are you alright?"

The curly blonde haired girl nodded hurriedly and made brief eye contact with Derek before looking down to her friend, looking panicked. It was like she felt like she couldn't look at Derek for too long or she'd combust. She was clearly waiting for some sort of cue, some assistance as to what she was supposed to do now. 

The boy was then waiting for Derek to assist him, and Derek could feel those eyes fixed on him. When the girl didn't say anything further, Derek just nodded and adjusted the strap of his bag. "Alright then." He looked down at the boy who was still on the floor, and Derek was torn between amusement and annoyance. He made it clear that he saw the kid, then walked away.

“Hey!” The boy exclaimed immediately, as soon as Derek had taken a step. and Derek heard some friction on the floor afterwards, and the girl going, "Stiles!" He resisted the urge to turn around to see what was going on, just barely. There were some squeaks, but then the boy had scooted himself between Derek's legs, laying flat on the ground with the same insistent expression on his face. He had his arms crossed across his chest, looking up at Derek with the dignity of someone who wasn't on the floor in between someone’s legs. 

“If you don't help me up, I swear to God I'll find another boulder who owes me a favour and have him knock your ass straight down to the ground,” the skinny one threatened, pointing a long but otherwise unthreatening finger up at Derek.

“A boulder,” Derek repeated, sounding unimpressed as he looked down at the other. He could feel himself beginning to smile. 

The boy nods, his mouth a straight line. The buzz cut almost makes him look like he should be an 8th grader, but Derek knew an 8th grader would be capable of standing on their own. "I'm pretty sure you could stand up if you tried. You made it all the way over here without standing. You obviously have some mobility."

The scoff that met Derek's statement just surprised him. The kid looked positively incredulous at Derek's continued refusal to help him. Derek met the stare with his own raised eyebrows.

The other seemed unsuccessful in thinking of a quip, and Derek was tired of waiting, so he accepted defeat and tugged the boy up by his biceps. “There. Happy now?”

“Well, if you're taking requests, I'd be happier if you carried me, bridal style, to Erica’s car.” The boy said casually, no hint of a joke in his tone. He stood loosely, like he was ready for Derek to sweep him up. Or perhaps that’s how he always stood, just so open and vulnerable. 

“I'm not taking requests, but try again later.” Derek replied, meeting the boy’s tone, his arms crossed. 

“What about the request of you coaching me?” The boy said immediately, throwing a complete curveball. The random question shook Derek’s resolve and he looked at the other, genuinely surprised, searching his face for an explanation.

“What?”

“I replaced you as varsity catcher. And let me tell you, Whittemore bitches all day long about how I'm not you. And it sounds like you don't want to join the team again, so…”

Derek’s eyebrows slowly descended from their puzzled position on the top of his forehead. It was unnerving to know that the other knew him already, but he supposed he should expect that and get used to it. The Hales weren't exactly low key. “I don't play anymore. I haven't caught balls since about May last year.” Derek didn't think about what else happened in May. 

The boy coughed a laugh, apparently unintentionally, and immediately attempted to cover it up. Derek scowled, ready to end the conversation there, and so he turned on his heel, once more, but this way he was going in the opposite direction of the parking lot. He decided it was worth the extra loop around the school to get out of this conversation.

“Derek!” The guy whined, chasing after him, “come on. We could be like Rocky and Adonis, you know, from Creed? Kinda. Just gotta use your imagination to see the resemblance but-”

“I don't even know who you are,” Derek turned to look at him. But to be fair, he hadn't heard anything about the team since he'd quit. He was a little bothered that the sophomore knew his name and his 'legacy', but Derek knew nothing about him. Most people in Beacon Hills now knew about the Hales, but not much besides the Fire. 

“Now you do,” the boy placed his hand in Derek’s unsuspecting one, “I'm Stiles Stilinski. I’m a sophomore and I replaced you as starting catcher on varsity. I have to catch for Jackson and it's the worst. Well, catching's not the worst. I really like it. I used to just be shortstop, but I like catcher. My thighs get really strong. I'm in two of your classes - AP anatomy and AP bio. You broke one of my pencils once when it accidentally hit you in the head. Fun times, actually not really, it was my favorite pencil, it changed colors when you held it, not that you noticed, you probably thought it was some floozy Ticonderoga-”

Derek took Stiles' hand and plopped it over his mouth to shut him up. “I can give you some drills that I used to do if it will shut you up.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and began to mumble, then realized it was muffled by his own hand. He impatiently brought the hand away from his face, using it instead to move while he spoke. “Listen, nothing can shut me up except for some good…” he seemed to realize whatever he was about to say wasn't the best option, and instead said, “Food. Some nice, big food.” 

Derek sighed, unamused, and shifted his weight from left to right before saying, “Do you want the drills or not?”

“How about we meet after school tomorrow and we discuss it?” Stiles suggested, tone obviously striving for casual. Behind him, the girl he had been walking with gave a tiny, sad squeak that Stiles didn't hear. Derek, however, heard it and then smelled the disappointment rolling off of her. If Stiles had paid more attention, he could’ve probably noticed that the girl liked him. It didn’t take a werewolf. 

“How about I give them to you tomorrow during lunch.” Derek said flatly, not looking forward to spending any more time than necessary with this insistent Stiles.

“Deal.” Stiles said as if it were a win. Derek didn't shake the outstretched hand, and instead finally got a chance to leave the school and wait in the lot for Cora.

“You smell like someone new!” Laura announced excitedly, clapping her hands together as she looked at Derek. She almost seemed like she wants to inhale closer, but she was just hardly refraining from the urge. 

“I bumped into a kid today,” he grunted, dispelling Laura’s enthusiasm for just a moment. She looked excited all over again, not discouraged for long, “You’re seeing him again though?”

Derek scowled, “I'm giving him some old baseball drills. He replaced me on the school team.” He explained shortly, but it's still not enough to discourage Laura. 

“You still made a friend!” 

Derek rolled his eyes.


End file.
